A Ceremony of Grief
and Triumph: The African Burial Ground
By Alice Bernstein
On Saturday, October 4th, thousands of people attended
a memorial ceremony and vigil at the site in the Wall Street area of lower
Manhattan known as the African Burial Ground. There the remains of 419
men, women and children - most of them slaves who died between 1612 and
1794 - were reinterred with the dignity, respect and compassion they were
brutally denied in their lifetimes. The reburials, performed in keeping
with sacred traditions of African culture, marked a culmination of years
of history. This week, in tributes coordinated by the Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture, four coffins bearing the remains
of a man, woman, boy child, and girl child - representing all the ancestors
- traveled to Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington (DE), Newark, Philadelphia,
returning to New York.
Ancestral Coffins Are Presented
All photographs copyright by David
M. Bernstein, reprinted with permission. |
|
The memorial program, a rich celebration of African American
culture and heritage, was hosted with warmth by James Stovall, artistic
director. There were interfaith prayers, eulogies, readings by religious
and educational leaders, celebrities - Maya Angelou, Phylicia Rashad, Avery
Brooks, and others; and
Alvin Ailey Dancers
|
performances by Boys Choir of
Harlem, Girls Choir of Harlem, Marie Brooks Pan Caribbean Children's Dance
Company, Alvin Ailey dancers,
and an international ensemble of drummers and percussionists.
We heard wonderful music and dance arising from African
traditions: as violinist Sa-Idah played a stirring fiddle rendition of
"Amazing Grace," and then joined jazz guitarist Keith "The Captain" Gamble
in playing "Sweet Georgia Brown," accompanied by Derek K. Grant's thrilling
tap dance rhythms.
Many church choirs sang hymns and |
spirituals, and later came together for a breathtaking finale
in a massive choir. It made for emotions I will remember all my life.
The
Lost and Forgotten Are Found
The cherished hymn, "Amazing Grace," also sung, movingly
expressed the meaning of this day: "I once was lost, but now am found,/
Was blind, but now I see."
| We learned that slavery wasn't
only in the South. Wall Street was a slave market and by the 18th century
the 5.5 acres just north of there, had become the largest graveyard for
enslaved and free Africans in America. Twenty thousand people were contemptuously
buried on desolate land in coffins layered atop one another and essentially
forgotten until 1991 when their bones were unearthed during excavation
for a federal office building.
Despite this discovery, plans for construction continued
until an outcry from the Black community led in 1993 to the site's designation
as a National Historic Landmark, with a portion set aside as a final resting
place. The ancestral bones and thousands of artifacts were moved
to Howard University for study and analysis. That research yielded
more knowledge of the |
Derek K. Grant, tap dancer
|
horrific nature of slavery - half of these dead were infants
and children, malnourished and deformed through arduous labor, and most
adults died young: one woman had a musket ball in her chest, another an
infant cradled in her arms.
Most people don't know that slavery existed in New York
City, and was abolished in 1827. I first learned this in a 1970 lecture
by Eli Siegel, the great educator and founder of Aesthetic
Realism, which I was honored to attend. Discussing the history of economics
in New York, he commented on the 1809 "Trial of Amos Broad and his Wife."
At that time, when slavery seemed to be invincible, they were found guilty
of assaulting and beating Betty, a slave, and her little female child Sarah,
aged three years. And I further learned this tremendous fact: Eli Siegel
understood the cause of slavery, of racism, and every injustice: the desire
for contempt, "the addition to self through the lessening of something
else." I represent people of all races in my gratitude to him for the knowledge
that can have people truly proud of how we see others; the knowledge that
can end racism at last.
Beauty,
Healing, Honor
"For many years I couldn't deal with Africa or the slave
trade: it just ate me up," said Joe Louis who drove up from Washington,
DC with his wife.
Marie Brooks Pan Caribbean Children’s
Dance Co. |
"This is an important event in our lives,"
he continued, "a beautiful moment - a celebration of our having survived."
And Mrs. Louis added, "It symbolizes the healing we need to do. We came
to make witness for our family and others who can't be here."
Charlotte Coleman of Harlem said, "It's very spiritual
to honor our culture and the suffering of our ancestors. There's a place
in history for their accomplishments, and I'm glad we can bring honor and
respect to them now." |
"When I was a little girl," Suanne Jones recalled, "my grandmothers
used to tell us about slavery. I came here today sitting comfortable on
the train and thinking that my ancestors came a long way by boat in a way
no human being should ever come to a country. I'm here to pay homage to
them."
Shauntell Charley age 12, who came with her mother from
Harlem, said she wanted "to honor people from history who were treated
bad."
Researchers are making important discoveries about DNA,
enabling many people to trace their ancestral beginnings. Among the artifacts
is a string of blue, green and white glass beads found with the bones of
a young woman. They are believed to represent the water which, after death,
could take her back to Africa. And other objects and designs provide strong,
moving evidence of the universal quest for beauty, freedom and home in
humanity. The cherished bones of these ancestors were reburied in coffins
lovingly carved by artisans from Ghana, the West African homeland many
came from.
Alice Brailey Torriente said, "My heart is filled with
both pride and sadness. Though our people laid undiscovered for so many
years, the fact that we now have some idea where they came from, how they
lived, worked, and are able to give them a final resting place with dignity,
makes me happy. My mother and I came up from Baltimore to be a part of
this." Mrs. Brailey said simply, "I am very grateful to be here."
They
Are Us
Kadiatou Diallo said of the ancestors: "They are us. They
are me; they are you. If they could speak, they would tell us, 'We need
better quality of life, education. We don't need war, we need peace.' We
are going to accompany them to the final passage."
Speaking for the women, Cicely Tyson read from "Ain't
I a Woman," by the legendary Sojourner Truth, born a slave in New York
State. And Rev. Carolyn Holloway, addressing those assembled as, "My beloved
community," spoke of how one ancestral woman "represents all women of her
day and all of us today."
Priest Pours Libation |
Justin Webb, a youth, spoke with kind imagination as
the spirit of a boy ancestor, "They left us for dead for hundreds of years
and my voice is being heard today. Just like nowadays, my parents wanted
a better life for me. I was forced to work as a carrier at the age of 11.
It was way too much for a little kid like me. We couldn't learn. It was
illegal. Our freedom was taken away. I didn't have any homework like you
kids today. Come, let's work hard to be scholars. I would love to be in
your shoes - please don't let me down. Continue the job I started by building
this community - you will honor me. I am your ancestor." |
All this made for tremendous emotion. And as we learned
more about slavery, I saw how much it comes from the worst thing in people
- contempt - and needs to be criticized as it goes on today. However, we
were also finding out about the most beautiful thing in people: the desire
for justice, beauty, respect. That is a great triumph of the ancestors.
Alice Bernstein is a journalist and Aesthetic Realism Associate.
Her email is: Ajoybern@mindspring.com
All Photos by David M. Bernstein
|
